Tagged: Green Lantern

I’ll be honest. Aside from Diamond on the DS, I really haved played too many Pokemon games since the original red/blue for the OG, moose-killing size Gameboy (EDITOR MORGAN’s NOTE- Now I feel old. Back in MY day we had the of strained-peas colored original GameBoy that could kill THREE meese. And instead of Pokemon games, we had only sadness). On my best day, I could name about 100 of em, let alone attempt to catch them all. The franchise has endured for 15 years, selling well, and has been a constant staple of the US manga/anime/video game community. It has populated toy shelves as well, which means Forbidden Planet has a large selection of Pokemon toys and model kits based on the Black & White installments of the series currently in stock. To the left is a stock photo of Water starting type Oshawott, who aside from being CUTE AS HELL, reminds me of Achewood’s Philippe, an adorable Otter in his own right. I’m not sure if Oshawott’s attack set includes both the “Hello” and “Hug” moves, but then again he doesn’t spend most of his time hanging out with a speedo-wearing cat named “Raymond Smuckles”. Anyway, there’s a variety of pokemon plushies/cards/figures/manga currently in stock, as well as three hardcoverAchewoodcollections from Dark Horse, so if either of these otters interest you, come by and check them out! Continue reading →

HEY! I’m BACK from THE FUTURE with an AMAZING preview of NEXT week’s comic books! Let’s be clear: if you are reading this column “on time,” which is to say on the week of May 31st through June 5, 2011 than this will be an incredibly succinct and adrenalin pumping preview of the books to come out soon. If you are reading this column when it’s NOT supposed to come out, say the week of June 6th through the 12th then this will just seem like a regular run down of that week’s new releases.

I genuinely feel bad for all of you who have stuck with Brightest Day. I dropped the latest Geoff John’s Retcon-Murderporn mini-series 5 issues in, when I realized the only characters I cared about in the story were having their stories told in separate and much better books (Justice League: Generation Lost and Birds of Prey), but man, the events that went down in in issues #23 had to be a kick in the teeth for most of you, let alone those of you who are big Vertigo fans. I’m a big believer of keeping the Vertigo universe separate from Earth-1/New Earth/Whatever the hell earth things go down on, so expect me to take my rage out on some message boards if Hellblazer’s John Constantine ends up as a Rainbow Lantern/Planeteer over the next few months. Continue reading →

Happy New Years Forbidden Planet Faithful! Hope you rang in 2011 with style and class, or if you’re like me, with a Four Loko and Rock Band 3 with several friends. Anyway, it’s my first post of the year, and I’m going to make sure it’s a good one!

Nothing is more satisfying when one of my favorite pop-culture characters get the plastic treatment and gets his own figure in a popular adult collector’s line. The first line of the DCUC Green Lantern Classic spinoff line is on shelves now, and it has a nice diverse roster. The six figure line-up consists of Black Lanterns Black Hand & Abin Sur, Sinestro Corp members Mongul and Low/Massh (swappable heads kind of makes it 2 figures in one. Kind of.), a Manhunter Robot, and the Torchbearer himself, Honor Guard Green Lantern Kyle Rayner (a fancy way of saying Kyle’s the man in the DCU). As a reported Rayner fan-man, it makes since that he’d be the first figure I’ve picked up from the series, and I’ll be discussing him today!

The first thing I want to point out on this figure is that the left shoulder joint on Kyle does not move, which I’m fairly certain is factory error, not a intentional part of the design. It sucks, as it’s something you really don’t expect to keep an eye out for when purchasing a figure, but Mattel dropped the ball somewhere during production. It’s not enough to deny my enjoyment of the product/give it a proper review, but it’s a bit of a let down that I can’t take advantage of the full-range of pose-ability these figures are suppose to offer.

With that out of the way, I can discuss the pros and cons of Kyle. First off, I’m happy to report that Kyle is a 100% all-new sculpt. I was initially afraid Rayner would just be a repainted Hal Jordan body with a Kyle head slapped on it, something Mattel is not afraid to do, especially when it comes to Lantern figures. But no, it’s all new as he’s taller and leaner than Hal (and Sinstero, as seen in the photo on the right). It’s also nice that is a sturdy figure that has no problem standing on his own, something I’ve had problems with when it comes to certain DCUC figures.

In terms of accessories, Kyle is pretty stacked for a DCUC. The first photo in the article showed that Kyle is packing his own unique lantern, keeping up with DC continuity. It’s solid plastic, and it’s accurate in terms of design, I wish just Kyle could grip it better and that the “made in China” emblem was maybe stamped underneath it, and not directly on the side of the Lantern itself. Shown on the left is Kyle’s other accessory, a construct Lantern Gauntlet and broadsword, which easily snaps onto Kyle’s right hand. There’s a nice amount of detailing on the gauntlet and the sword, which is nice to see, as Kyle’s one of the more creative Lanterns when it comes to his constructs. The Collect and Connect piece Kyle is packaged with is the Right Leg of Sinstero Corp member Arkillo, which is something I would like to own, but can wait for the less articulate but cheaper DC Direct version of the character to drop.

It should come as no surprise that I encourage people purchasing Kyle Rayner and the rest of the first wave of the Green Lantern Classic DCUC line. Faulty shoulder aside, it’s great figure, and you’ll need him for your own Green Lantern Corp. We carry the line for about $20 a figure, and you come swing by ASAP before Lantern-fever hits this country later this year when the Green Lantern movie premieres in theaters!

CGI suit, huh? Ryan Reynolds as a snarky womanizing wiseass chosen to be the protector of this sector of the galaxy, huh? The usual canned superhero movie dialogue about accepting responsibility and overcoming fear to seem deeper, huh?

To be fair, a trailer this far in advance will always be a raw vision of the final product. However, a Green Lantern comic found in the back of a family friend’s closet nearly thirty years ago was my first exposure to the medium. My affection for the character has not abated since that day, so I’m holding to a loftier standard of what I’d like to see in the his journey to the megaplex.

Color me not impressed so far.

For my part I much prefer (and at this point would much prefer to plunk down hard earned cash to see a feature length version of) the fan-made trailer that hit YouTube about one year ago (see below). Starring Nathan Fillion and cobbled together from a mishmash of shots and dialogue from recognizable/successful SF and Fantasy flicks such as J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek and the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings, it’s an editing masterwork and its charm, tone, and creativity did a helluva lot more to hype me up for a Green Lantern adventure on the big screen. I even thought it was real the first time I saw it.

But who knows? Maybe I’ll be using this space in June to extol the many merits of the real Green Lantern. Here’s hoping!

Holy Rainbows, Batman! In the past few years a complete spectrum of multi-hued warriors has joined DC Comics the Green Lantern for combat and tea in the outer reaches of space! KERPLOWIE!

People who read comics know that the Green Lantern is a guy, often named Hal Jordan but sometimes named Kyle, John or even GUY, who finds a magical ring that utilizes will power to create bright green objects out of thin air. The Green Lantern uses this ring to fight “Darkness” as part of an intergalactic peace keeping force from the planet Oa. I guess the economy on Oa is so bad they couldn’t afford consonants.

Way back in ancient times- the 1960s and 70s- an ex-Green Lantern named Sinestro was kicked out of our universe for bad tipping and found himself in an anti-matter universe. There he was given a yellow power ring, a useful weapon against his hated ex-bosses the Green Lanterns because of that squad’s unique flaw of being unable to affect the color yellow. Continue reading →

R. Crumb is one of the greatest comic book artists of all time, and this might be his living masterpiece. Robert Crumbs art is incomparable, and his work here fully illustrating the Biblical book of genesis is possibly his best. Why buy this book?

First off, the book was written by God, so you know it’s going to be interesting. Secondly the art is Crumb at his best, the absolute work of a master draftsman whose work shall be collected and discussed for generations to come. This is less a graphic novel and more the benchmark for how art comics will forever be judged. Continue reading →

Frankly, I’m ready for Marvel to just give these guys a Deadpool comic series. Or let them write the script for the movie. Whatever. Just put this dude in charge of Deadpool. I don’t think he’d disappoint us.

I shot this idea at Jeff earlier this week of doing a Basement Tapes-like weekly column where he and I talk about this Wednesday’s comics and other comic related events the morning after. Hence, “Thursday’s Walk of Shame.”

Now, would probably be a really great time to say GIANT SPOILERS from this week, and last week’s comics. So you’ve been warned.

And. Here. We .Go.

Dave at home. Found in his natural position.

DAVE: So, BLACKEST NIGHT #1: Really? Really, with the ripping out of the hearts of Guardians and Hawkpeople left and right? Jesus. Geoff Johns, you’re a good, pleasant guy, a kind-hearted individual, where does this come from? You gotta see someone. You have some repressed anger going on here.

Jeff at home.

JEFF: Reminds me of George Lucas’ similar fixation with using lightsabers to chop off limbs. The Star Wars universe is filled with amputees! The first comic book I ever read was an issue of Green Lantern when I was four years old. I think Hal used his ring to make a big-ass green fist to punch the baddie. I’d say this is a bit of a departure from the tone of that issue.

Yeah maybe a little bit of a departure. That’s funny. What is also funny, but probably not really, my first comic as a kid was a Green Lantern comic too. It was an annual, I think it, and I still remember the cover: it had Hal Jordan bursting through this giant robot. No idea what it was about, but I think I still have it somewhere in my parent’s garage upstate.

I don’t know if you had a chance to check it out, but I just got done with Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep #1 and found it okay. Art not too flashy- refreshingly so- and a lot of bang for the buck. Given the source material (it’s a direct adaptation of PKD’s novel) it’s pretty hard to go wrong. Just one quam:

It’s #1. OF 24!!!!!! Am I going to be around in two years or so when it concludes? Maybe. Is Boom, the book’s publisher? Can they sustain interest in this for two years? I wish them all the best, but…. To paraphrase the closing line of Blade Runner’s theatrical cut (which I prefer): I don’t know how long this book and I have together. Who does?

Whaddya think of that Spider-Man variant with Nixon on the cover?

I did look at it [Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep], and you’re right, it is hard for them to get it wrong by transplanting Dick’s words into the comic. However, I imagine most of the people that book would appeal to are huge into the movie, and have probably read the book a while back. So, in the end, I’m not really sure why this is a must buy.

I don’t think anything of the Nixon variant, though I will say how about the giant reveal in Amazing Spider-Man annual with Ben Reilly being alive? Sorry, spoilers, but its been a week so if you have a problem, feel free to pick a fight in the comments.

OMG. I didn’t see that. Was he wearing that Flashdance meets Carnage Scarlet Spider costume? Cuz that thing’s rad…

No, he was calling himself Velociraptor, which is probably just as Flashdance as his previous version. He had jaws, and bone knives coming out of his forearms, very much like that formerly stupid mutant. What was her name? Oh yeah, Marrow. God, remember when the X-Men comics had a fixation on gross mutants…Marrow and Maggot? Those were the times.

I feel like I have to bring it up: but Wednesday Comics? I loved Ben Caldwell’s Wonder Woman strip, but I hear the predominant favorite is Dave Gibbons and Ryan Sook’s Kamandi, but that doesn’t surprise me.

Ryan Sook could draw a comic about styrofoam and it’d be gorgeous.

Kerschl and Fletcher’s Flash page is my fave. Haven’t felt anything but “meh” about the character since the height of Mark Waid’s nineties run, but this is dead on the characters I loved growing up.

I liked Johns’ run on The Flash, but that was forever ago, and the book just hasn’t been that good (barring the short stint Tom Peyer had on it).

I just finished The Nobody and you mentioned something about how you liked the smell of it. I liked how it was this almost Cormac McCarthian statement on loneliness. I also really loved Jeff Lemire and how he captures a small town, I haven’t seen that done well in comics ever, but Lemire really captured what its like to be in a small town, or be from a small town.

Yeah. It’s pretty terrific, and as deftly executed as his previous Essex County books, which Top Shelf is reprinting in one volume later this summer.

Back to the smell of the book… from a book sniffer’s perspective let me say that it’s important your book stand out from the crowd. The Nobody’s piquant, inky aroma is distinct to say the least. And bloody hell is it pronounced!

[LAUGHS]. Yeah, this is my first introduction to Lemire so I will definitely be picking up Essex County when it comes out, and his new Vertigo series “Sweet Tooth”.

Last bit: ScarJo shows up in EW as the Black Widow. What are your thoughts on this? She looks more like Anna Mercury than she does the Black Widow but I still say I would rather see Emily Blunt.

Ah, Scarjo & Ryan Reynolds, comic book movies’ power couple. Ya know, I just IMDB’d Emily Blunt and I’ve not seen anything she’s ever been in. Daaavid, have you been watching “The Devil Wears Prada” behind my back? I gotta agree with you. She’s much more exotic and her cool eyes and demeanor more suitable.

At this point in the conversation, I jump through the screen like Ray Palmer does through a telephone and begin strangling Jeff for “The Devil Wears Prada” crack. This concludes the first issue of THURSDAY WALK OF SHAME. Maybe there will be another one next week, if Jeff survives. (Dave exits, while sharpening knives).

Okay, so maybe I could only will myself a week break from a “Shining” reference. I can’t stop myself, I’m a creature of habit. Regardless, its that time again, and that means some comics coming out this week.

The big one, of course, is “Blackest Night #1” which comes with a free Black Lantern Ring. I don’t know, but I’m pretty stoked about that, but this comes from someone who doesn’t even wear his class ring. Check it out:

For the adults, a new print of Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie’s “Lost Girls” comes today as well. I’m going to say it again: this is for adults. This is NOT “Supergirl’s Adventures in the Eight Grade.”

From Marvel this is the week where we finally get all of the sold out “Deadpool: Suicide Kings”. I’ve been hearing nothing but a ton of fun things about this comic, but its been selling out before I get the chance to peruse an issue. So, I’m looking forward to checking them out.

Like I mentioned the other day, I’m a Doctor Who fan, and this week marks the first issue of the new ongoing series from IDW. Other notable releases in science fiction comics this week is the adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” which was the basis for “Blade Runner.”

Reynolds is a pretty good actor, I can say that having watched quite a number of his movies he’s a thoroughly enjoyable guy to watch. Though I’m not sure how good he is as a dramatic actor, but its long been a contention of mine that comedic actors are also just as excellent in dramas. I just have nasty visions on the part of 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros over this considering he is playing both a DC and a Marvel character (Deadpool) and that both movies will likely be released around the same time. This is not Reynolds’ first foray into comic book characters, his first turn was as Hannibal King the vampire hunter in “Blade: Trinity”.

The movie is being handled by some fine folks involved in comics. The script was written by “Eli Stone” producers Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim (who has a pretty awesome “Amazing Spider-Man” annual on stands this week) and “Kings” producer and “Superman/Batman” scripter Michael Green. “Casino Royale” director Martin Campbell will handle the space epic.

Sometimes, I just can’t help myself when stuff like this comes down the pipe just before the weekend. Its like Hollywood intentionally plans on torturing us to deliberate and scream at each other over the weekend until they can finally make up our minds and our arguments. Oh wait, that is EXACTLY why they do such a thing. To create buzz. It doesn’t matter what we have to say, because quite honestly, we can’t help ourselves.

So, considering you have been warned, news has broke today that the leading contenders to play Hal Jordan, Earth based Space Cop of the Green Lantern Corps, are Bradley Cooper (of the hilarious The Hangover), Justin Timberlake (yes, you read that right) and Deadpool. I mean, Ryan Reynolds. So sayeth the Hollywood Reporter:

Along with director Martin Campbell [Casino Royale] and producers Donald De Line and Greg Berlanti [Eli Stone], Warners has spent the past five months searching for the actor to play Hal Jordan, the hot-shot Air Force pilot who is chosen by a dying alien to be his successor in an intergalactic police force known as the Green Lanterns.

This week, the race narrowed to Bradley Cooper, Ryan Reynolds and Justin Timberlake. The clock is ticking on the decision as the holding deal the studio had on the actors expired Monday, meaning the three are now free to accept other offers.

The studio ordered up two rounds of screen tests with Cooper, Reynolds and Timberlake. Other actors in the early mix included Michael Fassbender, Henry Cavill and Jared Leto.

They better be joking with the Jared Leto bit. I’m just going to take a second and chime in on my thoughts on this bit of news.

Cooper, who I’ve liked way back when he was Jennifer Garner’s reporter pal on Alias has been getting quite a bit of buzz and by far leads my preference on who should play Jordan. If you’ve seen The Hangover you know he has the womanizing charm that is characteristic in Jordan and the looks to go along with it.

Timberlake, though I continually contend that he should have a late night show over Jimmy Fallon, has been showing promise. He was literally the only bright spot in Alpha Dog but I don’t know, I feel like him being cast as Jordan would eclipse the entire movie as a whole. Green Lantern is an epic space opera, it should be covered on how cool a movie of this kind is being done; with Timberlake on, it would become about him, and how cool he is now that he’s in a comic movie.

Reynolds, though I really like him, and think he’s perfect for the role he already has (Deadpool) is better suited to another DC hero: The Flash. Which he was in hot contention for regarding the latter when David Goyer was writing/directing that vehicle. Which died out a couple of years ago. That said, I don’t think his name should come up in this discussion.

There is also the price to consider. This movie will more than likely cost at least $200 million dollars to make. Considering how big Timberlake and Reynolds are now (Cooper’s star is rising and thus probably his price tag) will cost the production a huge amount of money.